the lone soul: True, I was thoroughly impressed with how Victory II handled its plot and characters in a more serious light but still managing to keep the humor we all love the series for. I was a bit disappointed with how Plutia and Peashy kinda got reduced to just being Scouts, but I'm glad they at least appeared in MegaTagDimension. If I had to say, I prefer sub because they sound a lot better in Japanese, but for this story I'm at least keeping on how they referred to the characters in the English translation.

Linley Baruch: Thanks!

StevieBond: Yeah, I was aiming for a "gaming feel" in this story since the Neptunia franchise revolves around game parodies and whatnot. xD

DISCLAIMER: As far as the author checked, they still don't own anything.

HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA: OVERLOAD

CHAPTER EIGHT

》START

After the events of the previous chapter, our so-called Overlord protagonist had returned to the Planeptune Basilicom, leaving behind the seething CPU along with an IF who had refused to speak with him on the way back.

The day passed, and after a night of our Overlord protagonist complaining to the nation's CPU of her lax attitude and how he had once again been saddled with her work, we now move on to another morning where aside from the Lastation Guild receiving word that a dungeon in their nation had completely disappeared from the map in a fire accident overnight; the chapter's point of interest is once again back to our supposed protagonist who had awoken to yet another day.

However, instead of preparing himself to go through working for a certain idle goddess, he is currently sitting down on the floor with his arms and legs crossed and eyes shut as if he were in deep thought.

He looks like as if he is meditating upon something with large intensity. It would've been a serious sight to behold, were he not doing it while in his brightly pink-colored room.

The contrasting environment aside, I have an idea to what our self-proclaimed powerful protagonist is brooding about.

In the previous chapter, he had been reduced to fighting lower foes like some side character. Though he did manage to fend off the mecha-golem's last minute beam attack, he was left dangling from its mouth like a helpless boy and escaped being injured by an [EXE Drive] attack due to convenient game mechanics; not to mention that there was his embarrassing attempt at trying to take down the golem–

"There is no need for you to delineate every single detail!" Momus interrupts with a yell, snapping his eyes open in irritation.

So the fact had been glaringly presented to him–

"Are you even paying attention to me?!"

–That he is weak.

"HEY!"

...What? Don't tell me you will go as far as to deny what had occurred in the previous chapter? Noire and IF and all the readers had witnessed it for themselves.

Momus grits his teeth, shuts his eyes and raises a trembling fist in an over-dramatic fashion. "Ggh... I will acknowledge that at my current state, my strength is a circumstance that is to be undesired..."

Then he opens his eyes with blazing determination brimming within. "So the only way I can seek to recetify this condition is to engage myself rigorously in battle!"

Ah, so you will be training.

A grave glint comes to his eyes. "There is only one foe that I deem to be ferocious enough for this task..."

"Ooh! You wanna play with me, plant man?" Peashy eagerly asks.

"What we are doing here is not for amusement! I am willingly clashing with you as to ameliorate my strength!" Momus replies in all-seriousness.

...You do realize that you are confronting a child, right?

Peashy happily claps her paw-gloved hands together. "Yay, playtime! Mommy didn't take me to work today, so I'm reaaally bored!"

"Come at me, little beast!" Momus yells, shifting to a battle stance.

...You are aware that you are planning to engage in a duel against a child, right?

"Heeeere I goooo!" Peashy, with an excitedly spinning fist, rushes towards Momus. As soon as she neared him, she gives a little jump and punches him straight in the chest.

*WHAM! ! !*

Judging by that extreme sound effect, that punch must have been lethal.

"Guoah...!?"

Momus, wind literally knocked out of him, teeters slightly backwards before slumping into the floor, unconscious. If one looks closely, one could actually see the soul flying out of his mouth.

"Haha, that was fun! I wanna play more! Come on, plant man! Don't take a nap here! Play with me some more! Come on, come on!" Peashy laughs, approaches the downed Overlord and proceeded to pound at his chest in an attempt to wake him up, but the sheer force of her "pokes" was most likely causing more damage and making him sink deeper into the pits of unconsciousness instead.

Just then, Compa comes into the room. "Pea-Pea, do you want some snacks before I go–U-uwaah! Mr. Overlord?! Are you okay?!"

Oh my, what a pitiable sight. The so-called great Overlord Momus, defeated by a child. The situation would be so laughable if I wasn't doing it already.

PEASHY'S AFFECTION HAS INCREASED TO LEVEL {3}

At least someone had fun.

Once our apparent hero had regained consciousness thanks to the aid of the pink-haired nurse, Momus had grudgingly deemed Peashy as far too "savage at his current strength" and left the Basilicom as to not associate with the "little beast" residing in it any longer.

Though the mere notion that he considers a child such as Peashy as some dangerous, ferocious beast is as ludricrous enough in itself.

Anyway, our self-proclaimed Overlord decided to seek another means of fighting a capable foe elsewhere. He went for the other simplistic alternative that was before him: battling monsters through quests.

As of the moment, he was roaming his eyes over at the quest board over at the Guild.

[Terminate mutated spiders]

Guilty researcher

Quest rank: B

Objective: We had been developing a virus, and tested it out on some spiders. The results were a success - though perhaps too successful, as they had attacked some of the researchers and managed to escape the facility. We've managed to pinpoint their location in the [Keraga Dimension], but we can't possibly stand a chance against those things now so we have resorted to posting this quest and see if some other person will be willing to take this task instead. Arachnophobes not recommended.

Planeptune: +3%

Lastation: -3%

"Hm, intriguing. Transmuted arachnids! This should prove to be an adequate foe!" Momus declares in a satisfactory tone.

Just before he was about to accept the quest...

"Hey, mister! Are you gonna take that quest too?"

Momus turns to the source of the voice, and sees a familiar figure smiling at him.

"...Sprightly One? What are you doing here?"

He blinks down at her in confusion, seeing as she seemed to only reach his waist and had a change of wardrobe as she was wearing a black-colored hoodie and black clips on her hair.

The girl blinks back at him to indicate her confusion as well, but her smile and cheerful demeanor continues to remain in place. "Huh? No, my name's Neptune! And I dunno who you are! I've never met you before! I'd remember someone with a big antenna sticking out of their head if I did!"

Momus narrows his eyes, his "antenna" bent and sharpened in her direction as if it were also reacting in the same offended manner as he was. "My hair is of a suitable quality!"

Despite being yelled at, the girl doesn't look disturbed at all, continuing to smile at him. Momus could only sigh in exasperation at her lack of reaction. "...No matter. The state of my hair is not significant at the moment. You have not answered my inquiry, Sprightly One! And what baffles me is why have you shrunk!?"

The girl tilts her head. "Huh? Shrunk? Sure, I'm kinda tiny, but I'm still a growing girl you know!"

Momus continues to look confused. "What...?"

Ah, I see the case here.

"Hm? What are you talking about, All-Knowing One?!"

You are aware that other dimensions exist other than this one, correct? The Neptune that you see before you is different from the one from the Hyperdimension and must be native to this one. By the looks of it, her lessened height is most likely because she is still just a child.

"A counterpart, you say...? This world never ceases to bewilder me with their intricate principles," Momus says with a sigh, rubbing his temples.

"Oooh, cool! You even have your own narrator! Now I definitely want you for my party!" Child Neptune remarks with shining eyes.

"What...?"

Child Neptune immediately straightens as if she remembered something. "Oh, yeah, right! That's what I supposed to ask you in the first place! You're gonna take that quest, right? I was gonna take it too, but I think it'd be a lot better if we both did it!"

"Just what kind of proposal are you trying to say here?" Momus asks, his slow mind still not grasping her words.

"I wanna join you on that quest! I like collecting all kinds of lil' crawlies, so I'm always on the look out for quests that have bug monsters in 'em!" Child Neptune replies in a chipper tone, taking a glance at said quest posted on the board in front of her. "And according to this one, it's all the way in the [Keraga Dimension], so I could use an adult like you to come along."

"Yes, so it seems–'Keraga... Dimension'...?! Wait, do not tell me this is located in yet another realm?!" Momus exclaims.

Child Neptune laughs at the shocked expression on Momus's face. "Haha, don't be silly, that's just the dungeon's name! Well, uh, if I remember in the map, Keraga Dimension's in [Hello Continent]... and uh, that you're gonna need to take a boat to get there... so yeah, it'd help if I had a grown-up with me!"

Momus stares down at her in a superior manner. Because apparently, a conceited Overlord like him will look down on even children. "Hm, is a child like you capable of combat?"

"Hehe, don't underestimate me! I've been questing for some time already, you know! I can handle it! Besides, all the ten-year old kids always go out on a journey in Lowee, so I should be fine!*" Child Neptune says with a confident smile as she places her hands on her hips.

Not sure if that applies to you since you're not a resident of that nation, but oh well. Nothing like having a child in your party and exposing a prepubescent to various severities of the world to complete a journey!

CHILD NEPTUNE HAS BEEN ADDED.

Momus nods his head slightly to show his satisfaction. "Hm, very well. Let us get going, then."

As he had recalled what Plutia and Neptune had done before, Momus taps the digital quest board with a finger. The particular tab darkened to show it was taken with the words [QUEST ACCEPTED]. Once he was done, he turns back and starts to leave, before he is stopped by Child Neptune.

"Oh, wait! You still haven't told me your name, antenna man! It'd be kinda rude not to know your name seeing as we're gonna be in the same party and all!"

"That is Overlord Momus to you, child!" Momus states.

"Okay! Let's do our best together, Momo!" Child Neptune replies with a cheery smile.

Momus feels his eye twitch at the familiar nickname. "'Momo'...?"

Child Neptune nods. "Yeah! You gave me a funny little nickname so it's only fair that I give you one too!"

Momus's face darkens in exasperation. "Ergh, I have no doubts about your identity now. You have the same appelation sense as the other Sprightly One." He lets out a huff. "Come, tiny Sprightly One. I refuse to tarry here."

"Alrighty!" Child Neptune responds as she follows Momus out of the Guild.

And so the two proceeded to trek the long way on the road.

Do vehicles even exist in this franchise? The only method that the characters seem to use to get to their place of destination involves a lot of walking, especially for the ones who are not CPUs with their convenient floating powers. Either all the locations are surprisingly nearby than they look like on the map or this is Gamindustri's conspiracy just to get the main character of the series to get some exercise; the players may never know.

Either way, from all the way to Planeptune, the two walked out into the large grassfields where Momus, not familiar with the directions and had absolutely no idea where to go, simply followed the long, convenient dirt road that was placed, where it led to a forest that they had to pass through.

Though Momus wanted to hurry and get to their designated location as quickly as possible, Child Neptune had other plans.

"Ooh, ooh! A pretty butterfly!" Child Neptune stops to stare at a butterfly that passed by over her head in awe, then starts to run after it.

"Tiny Sprightly One, have I not told you that I do not want to squander time?!" Momus tells her in irritation.

"But I want it for my collection!" Child Neptune whines back, as she jumps in the air and catches the butterfly by its wings. "Yay, got it!"

Using her free hand, she takes out a jar that came out from seemingly out of nowhere from the depths of her pocket and quickly places the butterfly inside.

Momus stared.

That is hammerspace in action, our so-called protagonist.

Child Neptune holds the jar at her eye level and admires the butterfly inside. "It's so pretty! I mean, look at it! It's golden! I wonder if it's secretly a witch that can grant wishes?*"

Momus blinks away his disbelief as an annoyed expression makes his way into his face. "Now that you have obtained the arthropod, we should get moving."

"Aw, but there might be more cool bugs around! I wanna look and see!" Child Neptune says with a small pout.

A vein pops out from Momus's head. "We are not supposed to be dawdling!"

Child Neptune reluctantly consents and resumes walking, but every once in a while, she would still stop by to catch any insect that caught her interest, to Momus's annoyance.

"Just what is it about these insects that impels you to capture them so fervently?!" Momus remarks in annoyance as Child Neptune has (presumably) finished catching her final insect for now.

"I dunno, I always found bugs to be interesting! I like catching the cool-looking ones and staring at them and stuff," Child Neptune replies. "Oh, ooh! Just a couple of weeks ago, I found this super unique bug! She talks and floats on top of this book! It was kinda hard to stuff her in a jar with the book, but I managed to do it somehow!"

"A book, you say? For some reason, I find that manner of description to be familiar..." Momus says thoughtfully.

Well, it's his usual slow mind again. I'm not surprised.

"I was reeaally proud on catching a really cool-looking bug like her! I showed her off to the other kids in the orphanage and they were really impressed too! Auntie Caretaker doesn't like it when she says bad words, though..." Child Neptune trails off with a small frown, but immediately brightens afterwards as she continues speaking. "But Crostie's really easy to take care of! She told me she only 'runs on dark energy' or whatever and doesn't even need to be fed! That's good enough for me!"

Momus only releases a sigh at the girl's enthusiasm. "I am unable to fathom what exactly it is about gathering antrophods you find enlivening, but I suppose such puerile deeds are only befitting of a child such as you."

"Haha, you use big words, Momo!" Child Neptune says in amusement. "Good thing I'm a smart kid, though! I understand most of the stuff that Auntie Caretaker teaches us in the orphanage!"

Momus grows confused at her words. "'Orphanage'? What is that?"

Hah, I knew our so-called hero's ignorance to society would come up eventually.

"Huh? You don't know what an orphanage is? For a grown-up, you sure don't know a lot!" Child Neptune comments in an amused tone.

"Grgh, fine! If it is something not worth my time, then I have no need to acquire the information!" Momus grunts out in offense.

Oh, look at you, acting like a small child that was denied a treat.

"All-Knowing One, your words are most aggravating!"

It's what I do.

Child Neptune snickers. "Heehee, you two are funny! Well, anyway, I don't mind telling you what it means, Momo! Let Teacher Nep educate you!" She straightens her posture, and raises a finger and attempts a serious expression for her "lecture". "The orphanage is where little kiddies like me are taken care of since we got no parents! Apparently I got dropped off on the doorstep as a baby, so I've been living with my NPC brothers and sisters ever since!"

Her words would've been a lot more unfortunate had she not said it with such nonchalance and even mixed it with a meta comment.

"I really don't mind! The kids are fun to play with and Auntie Caretaker is nice! It is kinda weird that I can't see their faces, but I don't let that get to me!" Child Neptune says with a bright smile.

"Hm, so I see that not all human offsprings remain with their progenitors..." Momus muses.

Incidentally, where do you think human children come from?

"Hm? But of course even I am aware of such details! They are delivered to the humans by the large, white long-legged avian they refer to as the 'stork'!"

I have this urge to laugh again.

"Huuuh? Noooo, you're wrong, Momo! Babies come from cabbages! The parents plant a seed on the ground then that's when a baby sprouts from it!" Child Neptune corrects. "Of course, I like to think that I came from a special 'pudding-cabbage'!"

...They'll learn the truth eventually. With the right education.

And so, with that banter aside and backstory obtained, the two eventually came out of the forest after going over a creek, and headed for the harbor, and got on a boat.

To rid herself of boredom, Child Neptune would endlessly babble random topics along the way to a Momus whose facial expression could promptly be summed up as a "why-do-I-have-to-put-up-with-this-and-I'm-having-regrets" the entire time.

- KERAGA DIMENSION -

"A rather peculiar place this seems to be..." Momus mutters as he looks around and sees the various bits and codes floating about in the space, and the neon-colored lights flashing in digital archways.

I suppose there was a reason why it has the name "Dimension" strapped on it.

"Will an arachnid even show itself here? This kind of domain seems inapposite for an insectoid to inhabit," He adds.

"We're talking about mutated spiders here! Maybe this kinda dungeon suits its mutated needs or something," Child Neptune replies. "Oh, looky! There's one right now!"

She excitedly points to a large spider that happened to be crawling by ahead, its back facing them and still not aware of their presence.

"I'mma get it!" Child Neptune takes out not one - but two disks and throws them forward. Seconds later, she takes a large leap and grasps the disks just as they had materialized into swords into her hands, then wastes no time in slashing at the spider while still in mid-air.

SYMBOL ATTACK!

Momus could only blink and stare after the girl's nimble display. "Sprightly One indeed..."

Child Neptune jumps backwards and lands herself on the floor, then slashes at the spider numerous times until she chipped away all of its HP. "Bye-bye~!"

Just as the spider burst into data, an [EDGE] and an odd monster that looked like an old man that had a spaceship-like device wrapped in his waist appeared, having most likely been drawn to the sounds of battle.

"Ergh, why is it that there seems to be more of them when there's supposed to be only one opponent?" Momus says with an irked twitch.

Gameplay deception!

Momus shakes his head and releases a sigh, then brings out his sword. He rushes forward at the EDGE and deals a couple of hard slashes onto its solid metal body.

"No hard feelings for this, old man... thing!" Child Neptune says, then delivers two strong upward slashes at the [Bundodo Old Man]. It - he? attempts to ram the small girl with its spaceship-thing, but she takes a quick step to the side and counter-attacks with another set of slashes. Once she had finished it off, she turns to Momus who was still trying to whittle away at the EDGE's firm defenses.

"You need help there, Momo?"

"I have no need for your assistance, tiny Sprightly One!" Momus grunts out, as he pushes his sword against the EDGE's needle-like wings that were trying to pierce him. [Diabolus] eventually overpowers it, and just as it managed to smack the EDGE's wings away, Momus quickly strikes it with a great slash from his sword, knocking it back and disappearing into data afterwards.

+ VICTORY! +

ITEM DROP: ELASTIC THREAD

Momus sighs and puts his free hand into his hip. "Knowing the circumstances of these quests, I anticipate that we will have to defeat a certain number of these foes?"

"Yep, yeah! That's how they usually go!" Child Neptune replies, then brings out the quest window. "Says here we gotta defeat... around eight of 'em!"

"As I had expected... Well, no matter. This is all to fortify myself! These insectoids must prove themselves worth my time!" Momus says, raising a determined fist.

"Yeaaah!" Child Neptune goes along with Momus's enthusiasm, and raises both of her swords in the air.

Seeing as there were no more spiders lingering about in their area, they headed deeper inside in search of more of the supposed "mutated spiders".

While Child Neptune was busy slashing at another spider, once her turn was over, it spits a web in her direction, making her back away.

The spider scuttles forward and leaps for the girl, as if it were going to bite her, and just as Child Neptune readies her swords to slash at it, another wide arc in the air is what slices it into two.

"Thanks, Momo!" Child Neptune turns to Momus with a smile, who doesn't seem to acknowledge her gratitude and is standing off to the side with an annoyed look.

"These are supposed to be arachnids that have been instilled with power, are they not?! Yet these do not seem to be as powerful as I have thought they would be! I am tho - rou - ghly dissatisfied!" Momus complains, repeatedly stabbing at the downed spider in front of him with each emphasis he made on his statement while facing Child Neptune.

Child Neptune gazes thoughtfully at the remaining dark-colored spider that was waiting for its turn ahead. "Hmmm, yeah, even though they're not really that strong, having a giant mutated spider isn't so bad too, so I'll just beat that last one up and get it for my collection!"

She rushes in with her swords at her sides, then proceeds to deliver numerous slashes at it. While enduring her assault, the spider twitches violently as it suddenly became surrounded by a dark purplish energy.

"Whoa, it went all virus..." Child Neptune comments in surprise.

The proper term is [viral], actually.

The now viral spider opens it mouth and releases a shrill shriek that resounded throughout the entire dungeon.

"Huh? What's it doing...?!" Child Neptune asks out loud with widened eyes.

"Does it not normally do that?" Momus remarks, staring at the shrieking spider with a slightly confused face.

Seemingly responding to the spider's call, more spiders come flocking into the area, accompanied by other monsters that resided in the dungeon. The spiders, in particular, start to pile up on the main spider one by one, until they start to morph together and finally combine into one glitchy gigantic mess of a spider whose appearance has warped and distorted into a vicious monster possessing more limbs that a normal spider should have.

One would normally be rendered into a terrified mess at the sight of such a monster, but perhaps for the residents of Gamindustri, these kind of occurrences are deemed as normal. Or maybe it's because our two "heroes" right now simply possess minds that are beyond what people consider normal.

Momus has a hand placed under his chin, staring at the newly formed spider with a contemplative face. "Hmm, so this is how large creatures such as the colossal gelatinous beast come to be."

"Ooooh, wow! Now that's definitely a unqiue spider! I want it even more now!" Child Neptune exclaims with sparkling eyes.

The... hmm, how does one call a strange creature such as this? ...Well, we'll just call it the [Giant Mutated Spider With a Lot of Legs] as it is - lets out another distorted roar as it leaps into one of the many poles in the area and starts to spit out various webs in different directions to reduce their space as it leapt from one pole to another. One would have dismissed the webs as a very spider-like thing to do... had those very webs had not been sparking with electricity.

"Giant spider with tons of legs and shoots out electric webs?! Even more cool! I'm gonna get it for my collection!" Child Neptune says eagerly.

Smacking her way through the other monsters that got in her path with her swords, she rushes towards the pole where the spider was currently resting at and throws both of her swords at it.

One must be thinking, "Hurling your only weapons at an enemy? What the eff?", but thankfully her swords seem to have a boomerang function included in them as after having slashed at the spider, her swords end up slashing it again before returning to Child Neptune's hands.

Though the attack clearly worked, the spider doesn't show any ounce of visible pain as it only screeches in annoyance before shooting another electrified web that narrowly missed hitting the girl by her feet as it leaps for another pole again.

"Huh? Didn't it work?" Child Neptune wonders in confusion.

"Hmph, obviously your attack was far too feeble!" Momus retorts in a dismissive manner, rushing towards the spider, then jumps in the air as he delivers a slash at it.

The spider doesn't even flinch, and gives an angry screech as it spits another web that would have likely electrified his face had he not dodged and leapt back to the ground.

Now, now, our self-proclaimed Overlord; let's not call other people's attacks as weak when your own attacks are weak.

A vein pops out of Momus's head. "Silence, All-Knowing One!"

The spider, for once, leaps down on the floor and starts to rush towards the two with its usual distorted screech. Seeing this opportunity, Child Neptune readies her swords.

"Let me try again!"

She sprints forward and intercepts the spider's rush. She repeatedly slashes it, but the spider doesn't seem to be all that affected by her attacks.

"Ehh? Why?" Child Neptune says in perplexion, as she has to jump back as the spider swings one of its larger pincer-like forelegs at her.

Meanwhile, Momus was busy finishing off the other EDGEs, Bits and floating old men that had crowded around them.

"Argh, nuisances!" In his frustration, Momus bats away a Bit with his sword. It's sent sailing towards another Bit, and explodes when they crashed in a repeat of the events of the mecha-golem incident a few days back.

It just so happened that the explosion occurred near the giant spider thing, and it hisses when some of the fire made contact with its skin.

Momus's eyes widen at the sight. "It is vulnerable to fire!"

Child Neptune perks up at his words. "Oh, really?"

She swings one of her swords at a nearby Bit in order to replicate his actions, but the spider quickly jumps up to avoid the explosion.

"Aww, hey! Come back here! No fair!"

Momus delivers an aero [Shadow Slash] skill in its direction in an attempt to intercept it, and while the giant spider gives a low hiss when it made contact, it shakes it off and lands in another pole.

Momus grits his teeth. It would be a lot more difficult to damage to it now as it was clinging to a pole again. Any attempt at trying to make it go down would also prove to be challenging as physical attacks did not seem to faze it. There were also only a few Bits left in the area, and it would do them no good if they ran out of Bits to use.

You seem to be in a tight spot here, our so-called protagonist. What course of action will you take now, I wonder?

"Do you not have any useful words to say, All-Knowing One?!"

I would, but I'm not a convenient hint button. Also, as the narrator, it would be in poor taste if I had to interfere with the main character's battle actions. You are a great Overlord, are you not? Can't you think of some strategy to pull through this situation?

"Grrgh...!"

Momus grows silent as he starts to think. One of his eyes start to twitch as he watches Child Neptune swing her sword to toss some Bits over at the spider that, though it would get slightly damaged from the wisps of flame that came from the explosions, was not enough to greatly injure it and would dodge off to another pole.

"Guargh, tiny Sprightly One! Stop wasting our only means of harming it!"

"Oh come on, at least I'm trying," is what Child Neptune responds with.

Momus's eye twitches again, about to retort with something in annoyance, when he pauses as some sort of realization seems to sink into his otherwise slow mind.

"I can fling those irksome piece of metal towards the infuriating arachnid with the correct precision!"

Tossing the Bits in the air and making them explode near the spider does seem like a clever idea, but I doubt the spider would go down from just that, so you would need to find some way to guarantee it will finish it off.

"Only now do you place your viewpoint?!"

Now, now, you might want to focus on your battle. Scold me all you want, but that'll get you nowhere.

"...Ggh, I suppose our only alternative is that I throw the irksome piece of metal and let the tiny Sprightly One do likewise to make both of the irritating pieces of metal collide and combust! To ensure that we end it once and for all, we must quickly accompany it with another attack! But, it must be executed swiftly... And the only one who is capable of performing such a feat is..."

His gaze is drawn to Child Neptune, who was currently hurling more Bits at the spider.

Momus grits his teeth at his only options, seemingly reluctant to act upon his plan.

So you don't get to finish off the boss "all protagonist-like" this time either. Now isn't really the time for hesitation, as little Neptune has just used up another set of Bits, so there's only two of them now.

"What in the–argh, that vexing child! ...Ggh, fine! I will pursue with my tactic! Tiny Sprightly One!"

Child Neptune, who was about to swing her sword at a Bit again, pauses to face Momus. "Yeah, what is it?"

"You will follow my instructions! I will toss one of these bothersome pieces of metal, and you must do it with the exact precision! However, you must assault the exasperating arachnid immediately to fully terminate it!" Momus shouts towards her.

Child Neptune stares back at him for a couple of seconds, processing the information, then gives him a grin. "Okay, got it!"

"Failure will be unacceptable!" Momus tells her as he swats a Bit up in the air, locked on straight at the spider's direction.

"No worries! Leave it to me!" Child Neptune follows it up by quickly tossing the second Bit, towards the other Bit, making the two crash into other and predictably explode.

Because it had been aimed exactly near it, the explosion engulfs the spider in flames. It spasms violently while still clinging on to the pole, then Child Neptune, with her swords crossed in front of her like an x, takes a great leap and proceeds to deliver four powerful dual slashes, before dealing one final slash with her right sword*.

Once she was done, she lands back on the floor, swinging her sword back to her side coolly with a triumphant grin.

The spider drops down, still covered in flames, screeching all the while as it starts to sputter and glitch as the fire fades away and it shrinks down to a smaller size.

+ VICTORY! +

LEVEL UP!

MOMUS 32 - 35

CHILD NEPTUNE 25 - 28

ITEM DROP: HALF-COOKED SPIDER

GAINED THE "PEST KILLER" ACHIEVEMENT!

[Terminate mutated spiders] quest completed!

"Ooh, cool! The lil' spidey didn't disappear! Now I can catch it!" Child Neptune, still enthusiastic over getting a bug despite said bug became burnt, rushes over the charcoal-colored spider that was currently sitting on the floor, knocked out in an appropriate "dead bug" style.

Child Neptune eagerly brings out an empty jar, only to frown when she realizes she couldn't possibly fit a pillow-sized spider in it. She puts back the jar in her convenient hammerspace and starts to think.

"Are you certain you still want to obtain this smoldering insectoid?" Momus asks in a deadpan tone.

"Hmm... Well, I can't place it in a jar, so looks like there's no other way than to carry it!" Child Neptune replies cheerfully.

"Is a child like you even capable of lifting its weight?" Momus questions.

Child Neptune laughs. "Ahaha, not sure, so that's why I'd like you to carry it!"

Momus stares at her blankly.

Then with all seriousness and firmness he musters out:

"NO."

Thankfully for them, once the spider had been defeated all of the webs that it had spewed out had vanished, which enabled them to exit the area. And thus they proceeded on the long way back to Planeptune. It took a total of two boat trips to get back to the main island, as Keraga Dimension was located in one of the farthest places in Hello Continent and was only accessible through a boat ride.

If any of the people on-board the boats showed any indication of being disturbed that a little girl was carrying around a giant burnt spider; the girl in question and the blank-faced Overlord with her didn't notice or pay attention to it at all.

As of now, the sun was setting and the two had returned to Planeptune and back to the Guild, where they had successfully reported the completion of their quest.

"Huh, guess I'll have to carry this little guy all the way back to the orphanage," Child Neptune comments as she glances at the still knocked out spider in her hand.

"I don't see why you don't merely store it in that 'hammerspace' of yours," Momus states.

"Eww, no, Momo, I don't wanna store some wriggly bug in my pockets," Child Neptune replies in disgust.

Says the person actually holding it.

"But if I gotta, I gotta. Maybe in the future I oughta get myself a fancy collecting thingy that'll store all sorts of bugs in all kinds of sizes!" Child Neptune says enthusiastically.

"Hmph, that is a task that involves yourself and accomplishing your own avocation is all up to you," Momus tells her with indifference.

"Hmm, yeah... But anyways, we've finished our quest so looks like our team-up will be ending for today," Child Neptune says.

Momus raises a brow. "'For today', you say?"

Child Neptune merely nods with a bright smile on her face. "Yep! I take on quests 'cuz it makes me look for bugs and gives me money to give to the orphanage! And since you seem to be a regular quester too, I know we'll bump into each other again eventually!"

Oh, she surprisingly has unselfish intentions.

"Hehe, 'cuz I'm the main character after all! Well, I gotta go! I don't wanna miss dinner! See you again, Momo!" With a happy smile and wave, Child Neptune turns her back and sprints off into the streets. It would've been a rather adorable moment, had she not been waving the hand that held the grossly burnt spider.

CHILD NEPTUNE HAS LEFT.

Momus stares after the young child's silhouette that had vanished over the distance. He remains in a thoughtful silence until...

"That's right! I too cannot afford to miss engaging in supper!"

And coming upon that horrific revelation, Momus also runs back to the Planeptune Basilicom.

And so ends this chapter!

Our so-called hero ended up doing nothing but babysit children for this entire chapter, it seems. Or at least got involved with children in some way or another.

Looks like this chapter has centered around another break from the plot again! Constantly switching between a chapter with plot progress and a filler like Noire's tsundere attitude; is that going to be a thing?

It's kind of annoying! Where is the consistency?

And will the other Neptune have an actual plot relevance in the future? And why is she calling herself the main character when her version isn't really the focus in Victory? Is referring to themselves as the main character simply something that has been genetically ingrained into all Neptunes?

I would answer those questions, but if I did then that would ruin the suspense, wouldn't it? It would be such poor taste for a narrator to do so!

CHAPTER EIGHT - CLEAR!

》CHAPTER NINE《

LOADING...

STATS

MOMUS (LEVEL 35)

WEAPON: Diabolus (cannot be unequipped)

OUTFIT: Apparently Evil

ACCESSORY: Scarf of Apparent Evil

AFFECTION RANKS: Plutia {4}, Child Neptune {3}, Neptune {3}, Nepgear {3}, Compa {3}, Histoire {3}, Peashy {3}, Noire {2}, Blanc {2}, Vert {2}, MAGES. {2}, Rei Ryghts {2}, IF {1}

SP SKILLS:

- Dark Edge (Dr)

- Consuming Shadow (Dr)

- Shadow Slash (Dr)

EXE DRIVE:

- Diabolic Devastator (Dr)

- Dual Darkness (Formation Skill w/Plutia) (Dr) (MenDown)

- Sword Onslaught (Formation Skill w/Neptune) (Dr) (StrDown)

COMMAND SKILLS:

RUSH: Slash, Sword Slice, Myriad Slash

POWER: Edge Breaker, Wide Arc, Cleave

GUARD BREAK: Down Strike, Upper Slice, Side Strike

EX Finisher: X-Slash, Soul Pierce, Grave Pierce

EXTRA NOTES

*The mutated spiders deal is a reference to the spider enemies infected with the t-Virus in Resident Evil.

*Yet another Pokémon reference.

*Umineko no Naku Koro ni reference.

*Ultra Neptune's SP Skill: [Raging Rush].